There are few Canadian bands that I’ve personally known for a long time, and I think it was around 2007 when I met Hollerado as they played a few shows with Said The Whale in Ontario.

These guys are not only genuinely amazing humans, they have always been one of the best live shows to see, have some of the catchiest tunes, and can make a hell of a music video. (I wish the Prism Prize was around for Americanarama!)

Oh, I supposed I should explain that I’m getting nostalgic because Hollerado have announced they’re retiring, have one final album (Retaliation Vacation), one final tour (Vancouver date TBD), and a new song called “One Last Time”.

The video is full of home videos from over the years, and I definitely almost cried. I have so many happy memories with these guys, from shooting photos in little venues at the beginning of it all, to losing my voice after singing Juliette on stage at an after party show in Toronto, and just watching them grow and evolve and kick ass over the years.

I just went looking to see if I could find my “Record In A Bag” but I think it was lost in my Ontario/Vancouver moves, but I found my DEMO IN A BAG! #42 of 1000…I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Not only do we have a brand new song from Skye Wallace, but also some news on a new album!

“Coal In Your Window” is the first single off her upcoming self-titled LP due out June 7th. It sees Skye going in a more rocking direction, with a banger that was written “in a building in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland that used to be an old cottage hospital (Bonne Bay Cottage Hospital / Julia Ann Walsh Heritage Center). It was inspired by a story I heard about one of the young folks that used to work in the hospital and the boy that would throw coal at her window at night to beckon her down to their meeting place in the boiler room. “Coal In Your Window” may be about a specific story, but it’s a truly universal concept of jittery, passionate love and doing whatever it takes to access that fire that another person ignites in you. I wanted to evoke an excited, dangerous, lustful energy that gets the heart pumping.”

Just last week, I was wondering about when we were going to hear new music from Lydia Ainsworth, and just like that… a brand new song!

“Can You Find Her Place” is the first single off the upcoming album Phantom Forest, and Ainsworth says the song is “about Mother Nature's elusive yet powerful strength in the face of adversity. I'm singing a number of the songs on Phantom Forest from the perspective of Mother Nature and her views on humanity's hubris, however on 'Can You Find Her Place' I am using my voice as a kind of Greek chorus singing about where you can find her strength, setting the scene for Phantom Forest."

Last week, iskwē released a powerful new song, “Little Star”, accompanied by an equally intense stop motion video, directed by animator Sarah Legault.

iskwē says: “Set to the drumbeat of an Anishinaabe honour song, “Little Star” reminds listeners that we still need to act on the lessons learned from the Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie tragedies. It also gives birth to a new direction for me, as I’ll be digging deeper into the astrology teachings of my Cree ancestors and amplifying the work of thought leaders like Wilfred Buck.”

For months now*, we’ve slowly been getting teases of the new album from Tim Baker, and now we finally get the very first single.

“Dance” comes from the upcoming album Forever Overhead and is exactly what you would be hoping for from the former Hey Rosetta frontman; his fragile voice lilting over a beautiful piano, as the song builds to a soaring finish.

The bad news is, we’re going to have to wait a bit longer for the new album from Mounties — the power trio of Hawksley Workman, Steve Bays, and Ryan Dahle.

The good news is, we get another preview of Heavy Meta before it’s new April 26th release date, with a brand new video for “Flags of Convenience”.

The band says, “‘Give us convenience or give us death!’, is one of the themes running through the new Mounties song ‘Flags of Convenience’. The term is taken from a business practice of merchant ship owners registering vessels in a different country than that of the owner to avoid regulations, laws, and taxes. This underlying meaning becomes a metaphor for other behaviour from our obsession with convenience boiling all the way down to pure sex. The song and video feature a guest appearance by Limblifter drummer Eric Breitenbach.”